From 1931 to 1941, Florence Moulton taught grades one through four at the No. 2 Schoolhouse, a one-room facility not unlike the No. 8 Schoolhouse recently restored on the other end of town.

While the Eliot Historical Society and Friends of the No. 8 Schoolhouse began the restoration process, Moulton's experience was useful in their work.

"They wanted to paint the floor, you never paint the floor in a one-room schoolhouse. They always oiled it to keep the dust down," said Moulton, a lifelong resident of Eliot.

In the end, the floors were not painted, and 87-year-old Moulton says the recently completed schoolhouse is well-done.

"They've done a wonderful job, I think, they really did," Moulton said. "They've tried to keep it as historical as possible."

Nestled across from Mt. Pleasant Cemetery on Greenwood Street, the No. 8 Schoolhouse was officially opened Sunday, 10 years after the Board of Selectmen voted to turn over the keys to the Eliot Historical Society, and eight years after major renovations and restoration began.

A brief ceremony and open house, attended by approximately 40 people, marked the grand re-opening of a building that has served a variety of uses — school, country club, store house for the cemetery, fire house, and Lions Club meeting place — for more than 150 years.

"Having watched the progress of renovation and restoration over the years, we here today witness and pay tribute to the citizens of Eliot and Friends of the No. 8 Schoolhouse," said Jack Murphy, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, speaking on behalf of the board.

Murphy, also a past president of the historical society, said it is important to keep history alive "for the fun of it."

"It's fun to know where we came from," he said following the ceremony, "and how things have changed."

Built in 1841, and last used as a schoolhouse for grades 1 through 8 in 1910, the 24 by 34 foot building now glistens with new floor beams, fresh white paint and a new ceiling where there was before only beams. Nine old desks are lined up in two rows in front of the teacher's desk; a five-foot replica stove, which replaces the original missing stove, is next to the teacher's desk, centered in front of the back wall.

The schoolhouse walls are decked with historical photographs and information on the history of Eliot schools, and the building now houses some of the historical society's artifacts, among them, a graphophone, ship's compass, and stereoscope, which is an optical device from the 19th century that creates the illusion of 3-D.

Renovations, including a new foundation, were estimated to cost $32,000, but with enormous volunteer and donor support, the group ended up spending just under $9,000, leaving funds available for future programming.

Roseanne Adams, a lifelong town resident and member of the historical society and Friends of the No. 8 Schoolhouse, said restoring the building was well worth the effort.

"It's preserving a piece of Eliot's history for our children to know what it was like, while there's people still around who remember it," Adams said. "It was never a chore. There were always people who knew people who had expertise to do what we needed to do."

Paul Johnson, a mechanical engineer and 26-year town resident, began working on the project in 2001. He lives only two doors down from the schoolhouse, and said he could not think of any reason not to help.

Though he had a huge hand in the final stages of restoration, he credited those who helped remove an adjoining shed, and reline and restore the chimney prior to his involvement. He also gave high praise to the late Lyndon "Lyndy" Leavitt, who while in his early 80s, almost single-handedly fixed the school's rotten foundation; who during a meeting where the high price of paying outsiders to fix the foundation was discussed, nudged Johnson, and said to him resolutely, "We can do that." Leavitt passed away in 2004.

"He worked at his leisure and called for help when he needed it," Johnson said. "He fixed all that and then the rest of it was easy."